For sectors where systematic abuses are demonstrably occurring and no improvement is in sight, the cabinet is preparing a borrowing and lending ban as a last resort. An General Administrative Measure is being drafted for this, which can come into effect at the earliest in one year. A new cabinet can weigh whether the borrowing and lending ban will actually be implemented.

Minister Van Hijum: “Everyone who works in the Netherlands deserves a fair, healthy, and safe workplace. I find the picture painted in the exploration regarding labor abuses in certain sectors very concerning. Therefore, I expect these sectors to take concrete measures to better protect employees in their sectors and to combat violations of labor laws. This is not optional. Therefore, I will also start working on the implementation of a borrowing and lending ban on behalf of the cabinet.”

With the establishment of a sectoral borrowing and lending ban, employers may no longer borrow employees through a temporary employment agency. This will significantly increase the number of people they will hire directly, and the number of abuses is expected to decrease.

The figures reveal that there are specific sectors that have a (significantly) increased risk of violating labor laws. These risks are highest in the meat sector.

Compared to other sectors, there is also a relatively high risk of violating labor laws in parts of the (broad) cleaning, transport, and cultivation sectors. Here, a relatively high percentage of violations of labor laws, such as not paying the legal minimum wage, has also been found. However, the violations in the cleaning, transport, and cultivation sectors cannot be demonstrated as concentrated as in slaughtering. This means that the violations are not high in all areas of these sectors, and it is currently insufficiently clear whether the abuses are actually widespread and systematic within these sectors.

Agreements are being made with employers in the mentioned sectors to quickly reduce the abuses. They want to take concrete measures to combat abuses in their sectors. For example, agreements are made about increased enforcement by private parties in these sectors. Sectors will also strengthen the norms themselves to combat violations of labor laws. These could be agreements in collective labor agreements about the number of people in permanent employment and about compliance with those agreements.

The minister writes that it is up to the sector to seriously work on improving the situation of workers in the coming year.